Those with unlimited margin may be moving their buying into gold for good reason
Official from US formally stating what we all expected and we all know where it's leading.
In addition, consumers will be thoroughly drained by year's end.
But the DOW is likely being most influenced by this.
U.S. Identifies Holes in Iraq Document
By JOHN J. LUMPKIN, Associated Press Writer
WASHINGTON - Iraq's 12,000-page weapons declaration does not account for a number of missing chemical and biological weapons and fails to explain purchases U.S. intelligence believes are related to Saddam Hussein (news - web sites)'s nuclear program, U.S. officials said.
AP Photo
AP Photo
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Iraq used the lengthy document to support its contention — disputed by the United States — that Saddam's regime possesses none of these weapons of mass destruction, the officials said late Thursday.
The tentative U.S. conclusion that the report is lacking sets the stage for a critical set of decisions by President Bush (news - web sites), who views the declaration as Saddam's last chance to come clean, officials said.
Bush's options include providing American intelligence on suspected weapons programs to U.N. inspectors or helping the world body attempt to prove that Saddam is lying, which was required under a U.S.-backed U.N. resolution that also forced inspectors back into Iraq after a four-year lapse, the officials said, speaking only on condition of anonymity
Bush could also simply seek more information from Iraq, a route White House officials said earlier Thursday the president would not take.
After a more thorough review of the declaration, the president also could declare that Saddam was in "material breach" of the resolution, and that war was required to disarm him, officials said.
The latter step, favored by hard-liners in the administration, likely would be condemned by U.S. allies who want proof that Saddam is a threat.
Under the terms of U.N. Security Council Resolution 1441, false statements or omissions in the declaration — coupled with a failure to comply with inspections — would be a "material breach" of Iraq's obligations. Newly admitted weapons inspectors have not publicly accused Iraq of obstructing their efforts.
The Iraqi report largely rehashes old declarations and reports and contains little new information, officials said. It has done nothing to alter the U.S. belief that Iraq possesses chemical and biological weapons and is pursuing nuclear weapons, officials said.
The report, being analyzed at the CIA (news - web sites) and elsewhere, does not account for quantities of chemical and biological agents that were missing when U.N. inspectors were expelled from Iraq in 1998, officials said. Hundreds of mustard gas shells, for example, remain unaccounted for, officials said.
It also does not explain a number of Iraqi acquisitions that the United States suspects are related to Saddam's nuclear program, officials said. This includes the purchase of uranium in Africa, as well as purchases in Western countries of high-tech equipment that could be used in a uranium enrichment program, officials said. Enriched uranium or plutonium is a necessary requirement for a nuclear weapon.
White House and CIA officials refused comment on the assessment, first reported by The New York Times in Friday editions. However, Bush himself told ABC News his gut feeling about Saddam was that "he is a man who deceives, denies."
The United States and Russia turned in their preliminary assessments Thursday to chief U.N. weapons inspector Hans Blix and ElBaradei Mohamed of the International Atomic Energy Agency.
Three other permanent members of the U.N. Security Council — Britain, France and China — are supposed to provide their assessments as well by Friday.
Blix and ElBaradei then will remove sensitive sections of the declaration and distribute copies Monday to the 10 other members of the council.
Iraq has insisted it no longer has any weapons of mass destruction. The declaration is known to contain information about a nuclear weapons program undertaken more than a decade ago.
The sensitive parts of the voluminous declaration, submitted by Iraq last weekend, could provide a trail leading from supplier countries to the arsenal the United States insists Iraq has hidden.
That information will not be given to the 10 other countries under an agreement reached by the Bush administration with the United Nations (news - web sites).
Blix is due to report to the Security Council next Thursday.
Defense Secretary Donald H. Rumsfeld, speaking in Qatar, rejected any suggestion the United States was eager for war with Iraq.
He said U.S. officials intend to spend the next few weeks scrutinizing the weapons declaration.
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